Abstract

An amphoteric acrylic copolymer of acrylic acid(AA) and methylacrylethyltrimethylammonium chloride (DMC) has been synthesized by free radical copolymerization using ammonium persulfate as the catalyst at 75°C for 4hrs.The structure of the polyelectrolyte has been characterized by FTIR and 13C NMR.The solution properties of the polymer have also been studied. The correlation between the comonomer ratio of the amphoteric polyelectrolyte and its application properties as a retanning material has been investigated by measuring such physical/ mechanical indexes of the retanned leather as thickness increment ratio, shrinkage temperature, tensile strength, unit load elongation and also by instrumental analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and colour analysis. It has been found that the amphoteric polymer tanning agent has a strong retanning ability and has no negative effect on the dyeing of the retanned leather under proper conditions